Sunday, June 26, 2011

Chicarito's Children & The Gold Cup Vortex

The Gold Cup is finally over. And as a soccer fan, a United States soccer fan at that, I'm inclined to think that is a good thing. Usually I'm three sheets to the wind about any soccer competition, the Confederations Cup, Copa America, the Intertoto Cup (don't ask, or click here if you care); no soccer is bad soccer.

But the tournament was about as exciting as taking a trip to Pittsburgh. I know CONCACAF (no its not a hybrid marine, cattle species) is aiming for some international attention and more opportunities to showcase the lack of talent, er, talent. But everyone kept waiting for the Mexico v. USA, rivalry, game of regional prestige, bragging rights game that ultimately means nothing.

Most of this grows from frustration at the US losing to Mexico yesterday 4-2. In fact as a sore loser, it seems evident and quite possible that the Gold Cup sits in one of those strange vortexs of time.

How so? The United States hosted the tournament, yet the final, held in the United States at the Rose Bowl, held more Mexico fans than US. Surprising? No. The United States is the only country in the world where visiting nations fans outnumber home fans. Also, not only was the entire ceremony for the trophy presentation in Spanish, but all the games were featured on Univision.

Not that it matters, I love speaking Spanish. I understood most of it. America's all about cultural inversion, right? But its quite strange. Imagine the World Cup in 2006, held in Germany, being featured on an Italian Channel with the entire trophy ceremony in Italian?

All in all, the Gold Cup more so represented the lack of cultural expressionism with soccer, and the fact that we still have a long way to go in terms of skill and support.